Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The latest international review on Taiwan’s first national human rights report showed that the nation’s efforts to protect human rights are falling short of international standards and there is still a long way to go before the nation can join other major countries in the development of human rights.

The review, presented last week by 10 human rights experts that were invited by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to assess the first national human rights report, urged the government to abolish capital punishment, suspend the execution of death sentences, reveal the truth behind the White Terror era, respect freedom of assembly and prevent monopolization of the media. The 84 recommendations listed by the experts included calls for the improvement of rights for migrant workers, Aborigines, women, gay and transgender people, and people with disabilities.

Although the US has a policy of “strategic ambiguity” toward Taiwan, it is committed to the security and wellbeing of Taiwanese, a US academic told a conference on Taiwan international relations on Friday.

“We are not ambiguous about our opposition to the threat or use of military force or any other form of coercion [against Taiwan],” Alan Romberg, the director of the East Asia program at the Stimson Center, said in a speech at the George Washington University conference.